G (12yo) and I had originally attempted this hike on the 17th, but the thunderstorms foiled our afternoon hike, so we came back on the 30th. This is the longest single hike G has done and was excited! Clear cuts aren't for everyone, but we really loved the views and the alternation between clearings and forest.
The road is fantastic, with L-1100 well-graveled with hardly a single pot hole, unlike some roads in this area. We were glad to see an outhouse with plenty of toilet paper, though the previous user left the lid up which sadly made it stink pretty bad. Be sure to shut the lid!
The portion of this hike on the Tarbell Trail was issue free. There aren't many flowers right now, but we enjoyed the colorful paintbrush and thought it was really cool to see how the salal grows in and around the logs and stumps. This area is great for flowers in the spring, though!
Once we reached the Silver Shadow connector, we could tell it doesn't get as much love as the main Tarbell Trail. It was somewhat overgrown in the first section of the trail that is still in clear cut, improved when we reached the first forested section, and then got even more overgrown at about the 2.4 mile mark (from the trailhead/parking lot). The brush at that point was as tall as G, which he found pretty overwhelming, so we decided to turn back and hike out on the Tarbell Trail instead of finishing the loop. If I'd been hiking alone, I'd have likely continued on and been fine, but depending on the kid the brush might be pretty unpleasant (especially with the potential for ticks). Wear long pants!
As we returned to the car, G observed how cool this trail is but that he wished we'd had a weed wacker and some loppers! He's excited to give it another chance in the future.
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